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African press review 21 July 2015

It's hard to get away from US President Barack Obama this morning. He's been talking to the new Nigerian leader in Washington. The subjects the two men didn't mention have been getting nearly as much coverage as those they did. And of course Obama is eagerly awaited in Kenya next weekend

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Nigerian daily paper Punch says US President Barack Obama yesterday offered strong support for Nigeria’s new leader Muhammadu Buhari, saying the Nigerian president had a “clear agenda” for defeating the armed Islamist group Boko Haram and was working to root out corruption.

Buhari met Obama yesterday on his first visit to the White House since his election in March.

The American president described Buhari's election as “an affirmation of Nigeria’s commitment to democracy”. This visit is intended to usher in a new chapter in relations between the two countries.

According to Punch, US cooperation with Buhari’s predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan, had virtually ceased over issues including the former president's refusal to investigate allegations of corruption and human rights abuses by the Nigerian military.

Buhari’s move earlier this month to fire military chiefs appointed by Goodluck Jonathan cleared the way for more military cooperation, according to US officials.

Since Buhari’s election, Washington has committed five million dollars in new support for the multinational task force set up to fight Boko Haram.

Neither Punch nor sister paper The Guardian make any reference to a discussion between the two presidents of the question of liberalising Nigeria's anti-homosexual legislation.

The main story in regional paper The East African is devoted to Burundi and reports yesterday's grenade explosion in a street close to the symbolic Independence Square in central Bujumbura. No one was injured.

The paper says that today's elections look likely to give President Pierre Nkurunziza his third consecutive mandate but the daily warns that it will be a hollow victory, leaving Nkurunziza ruling a violently divided nation.

More than two months of anti-Nkurunziza protests have left at least 100 people dead in a tough government crackdown, independent media have been shut down and many opponents have fled   joining an exodus of over 150,000 ordinary Burundians who fear their country may once again be engulfed by widespread violence.

In mid-May rebel generals attempted to overthrow Nkurunziza in a coup. Some army elements have since launched a rebellion in the north of the country.

Also in The East African, news that international ratings agency Fitch has downgraded Kenya’s credit outlook from stable to negative, citing increased borrowing by the government against a background of higher public spending and weak revenue collection.

The downgrade means that Fitch could lower its rating of Kenya’s sovereign debt over the next two years if the negative economic trends persist.

In Kenya itself The Daily Nation continues coverage of preparations for Obama's visit to Nairobi next weekend.

The paper reports that American security officers yesterday took over the Safaricom Indoor Arena at Kasarani in Nairobi, where the US leader will address a public meeting on Sunday.

Obama's visit coincides with the opening of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit at the UN headquarters in the Kenyan capital.

So serious were the officials about security that a Nation team that visited the stadium was stopped and the paper's photographer forced to delete photos he had taken of them.

Says the report, "the mean-looking officers, in black suits and dark sunglasses, intercepted our photographer as he exited the arena" and forced him to delete the images, saying they could endanger the lives of personnel.

"Although the officers were cordial, their Kenyan colleagues were harsh and shouted at the Nation team," the report continues.

Over at The Standard, the main story says two former top US officials want Obama to act tough on the Jubilee government during his Kenyan visit.

In an advisory likely to cause unease among President Kenyatta’s inner circle, according to The Standard, former assistant secretary of state Johnnie Carson and former ambassador William Bellamy have warned that President Obama would be seen to be abetting some of Jubilee government’s excesses if he treats the Kenyatta administration with velvet gloves during his trip.

The two officials want Obama to be blunt with Kenya’s leadership on fundamental issues such as corruption, the war against terror and the treatment of civil society groups.

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